RQ Slaine poor production values compared to d20 slaine

[Troll66]

hello

I have Slaine d20 by mongoose and recently purchased the runequest slaine core book (and runequest deluxe). I have to say that in terms of production values: paper quality, art, binding and layout - it comes a very poor second to its earlier d20 format.

The d20 version was excellent in terms of its art content - loads of very evocative artwork from the comics and graphic novels - RQ art is scarcer and all the illustrations whilst they are I think new and original and evocative in atmosphere they are simply too dark for any detail to show and hence fail to fully evoke their intended purpose... I think someone set the dark tone too high!

d20 was printed on glossy paper with full colour - some pages even had gloriuos full page colour illustrations! RQ slaine has used the same page sidebar art but in black and white - again too dark.

Although the RQ cover is better imo than the d20 one - beyond that it fails to stand comparison in any favourable light compared to d20 slaine.

D20 binding is excellent - RQ binding feels too 'tight' with a crinkly sound to turning its pages

I mention this on this forum because I felt strongly enough about this issue. Its regretful that it is in general a moaning post - the RQ conversion seems to be a quality piece of work as far as I have read so far...(although I have not found any bending of iron weapons in RQ slaine???)

I hope future RQ slaine products will feature coulour art or at least lighten it up ! I dont see why the same standard of presentation could not have been maintained from the d20 version.

regards

Troll66

 

[weasel_fierce]

My guess is part of the problem is that the RQ book is coming off their own printing press, and they havent quite figured that out yet

 

[Marquis-de-Carabas]

Actually, I remember reading a post that they had figured it out. But the current examples that are shipping to stores clearly tell otherwise.

The books are getting worse and worse. Compared to earlier productions (printed in China, me thinks) quality has dropped like a stone.

I won't be buying any more Mongoose books until there is a consistent improvement in print quality. I might go for pdf, but personally I think it would be more helpful not to buy any Mongoose books until they fix the quality issues. Maybe when quality starts hurting sales, they will take meaningful action!

Okay, I am one angry customer because I desperately want to like the MRQ books. The content is great. And going through replacement processes just won't cut it for me.

 

[weasel_fierce]

the only book I've got off the new press was the players guide to glorantha. The cover is slightly warped, but that could have been from shipping too. Otherwise its fine. Ive been a bit hesitant with getting Hawkmoon for this reason, though

 

[MongooseMatt]

Hi guys,

All the cited problems with our printing facility have now been resolved - if you have any books of poorer quality from earlier runs, we will freely replace them for you. Contact rveal@mongoosepublishing.com with your details, and he will sort you out!

 

[Troll66]

Hello Mathew

Thank you for your attention. May I ask , was there to your knowledge any issue with early print runs of RQ Slaine being too dark - in terms of the print and hence artwork being hard to 'read' . The artwork seems to be set on a much darker setting than any other Mongose RQ books in my possessionha -deluxe, equipment, hawkmoon etc.

Any plans to release a delux shiny paper full coulour version of RQ Slaine?!

 

[MongooseMatt]

Hello Mathew

Thank you for your attention. May I ask , was there to your knowledge any issue with early print runs of RQ Slaine being too dark

To my knowledge, no.

Any plans to release a delux shiny paper full coulour version of RQ Slaine?!

It is something we can obviously have a look at doing - we are planning something similar for Conan. However, we have a few bits and pieces to get out of the way first!

 

[Tal]

I would buy a full color RQ Slaine. Not real happy about the limited edition.

 

[BackdoorHero]

I understand the current printing in black & white and all in-house is to do with cost and profit margins. Personally I loved the early colour MRQ books but have stopped buying after seeing the current black & white books.

 

[Nickbergquist]

I'm curious if Mongoose's new in-house press even has full-color interior options (I gather Conan 2nd edition is not full color, for example). However, this is not a detraction for me, as I prefer a less expensive product that is black & white (I've yet to get a Mongoose book over here in the US that was poor quality, btw) to a more expensive product.

Still, while I personally have no problems with MRQ Slaine, I can see where some people would have liked a full color edition, since it's based off a very colorful graphic novel series. I will concede that, given a choice of a flashy full-color product vs. black and white edition, I might just buy the color edition if it wasn't too pricey and was something I really, really wanted (which Slaine is not, btw, since I am new to the series through the MRQ book, anyway). I'd probably buy a full color Traveller book, for example...

 

[MongooseMatt]

I'm curious if Mongoose's new in-house press even has full-color interior options

The covers come from the same place

Seriously, we have done full colour books already, such as the CTA Fleet Book and a couple of B5's.

If there is enough demand for a full colour Slaine as a mail order special, we can certainly look into it - minus the special coevr we used for the LE one, of course.

 

[BackdoorHero]

If Mongoose can produce either colour or black & white for any book, is it not possible to give the buyer a choice? I would have thought the easiest (and possibly cheapest) is with the PDF's - is this possible because I would like to see a more colourful book.

I noticed S&P 50 has an Elric article in colour and if the main books were done similar then I would be very tempted to buy them!

 

[Troll66]

If there is enough demand for a full colour Slaine as a mail order special, we can certainly look into it - minus the special coevr we used for the LE one, of course.

YESSSSS!!!!!!

 

[MongooseMatt]

If Mongoose can produce either colour or black & white for any book, is it not possible to give the buyer a choice?

The quick answer to this is yes, at least for many lines (some are just born to be black and white, I am afraid!).

The slightly longer answer. . . we are still finding our legs with the printing facility, in terms of organisation, so it will be a few months yet before we can start offering things like this.

But yes, things like this are certainly possible.

 

[soltakss]

Personally, I'd choose black and white every time. Colour is over-rated.

Of course, if they were the same price and one had excellent colour maps, then I might be tempted, but if the black and white one was cheaper, then it's no contest.

 

[Troll66]

well yes some will want B&W others colour - customer choice is the key issue here - then we can all have what we want!

 

[Daithi O'an tSionnaigh]

I found the binding rather odd and tight as well. Infact I find trying to read anything close to the binding seam is a rather pain. You almost have to fold the pages over just to read it.

It is not a huge deal but I hope this issue is rectified and it really is too bad it wasn't printed in full colour like the D20 books it would have looked gorgeous. I am happay that Slaine is now RuneQuest but I agree that had the book been to the same quality as the D20 books this would have been a grandslam book. It is still great with all that Slaine goodness but the production and building of the book needs to be perfected.

 

[Rurik]

I found the binding rather odd and tight as well. Infact I find trying to read anything close to the binding seam is a rather pain. You almost have to fold the pages over just to read it.

I found this in some of the earlier printings from the Mongoose press myself. If you compare the books to ones printed before Mongoose went in house the interior pages are considerably smaller - and the missing paper comes from interior margins next to the binding, making it hard to read the pages there. It is as if too much of the page is getting 'cut off' during the binding process.

My most recent book off the Mongoose press is MUCH better in this regard than my first few (and it lays flat almost as well as the pre-inhouse books). It seems to me they have recently figured out most of there binding issues. Hopefully they will all be as good moving forward.

 

[Puck]

I found the binding rather odd and tight as well. Infact I find trying to read anything close to the binding seam is a rather pain. You almost have to fold the pages over just to read it.

I just recieved my copy of Slaine tonight and it has the same problem. So did my Elric. It is not the bowed shaped cover like the earlier books, but it makes reading them a bit of a pain. They are all wrinkly in close to the binding, like the pages were squished longways as they were glued. Makes it hard to turn pages. I was really hoping they fixed this.

On the other hand, it contains the best art I have ever seen in a RQ book in any generation of the game. I really do not know anything about Slaine, but on first glance this stuff looks really cool. Nothing like great art to really inspire a gaming world.

 

[MongooseMatt]

I just recieved my copy of Slaine tonight and it has the same problem. So did my Elric. It is not the bowed shaped cover like the earlier books, but it makes reading them a bit of a pain. They are all wrinkly in close to the binding, like the pages were squished longways as they were glued. Makes it hard to turn pages. I was really hoping they fixed this.

Already fixed - get in touch with rveal@mongoosepublishing.com for a replacement copy.